With all due respect to Barney Frank, enough with the NRA comparisons.
In defending his dismissive remarks of the National Equality March, Frank has said we should follow the example of the most effective lobbying group in the country - the National Rifle Association - and do our lobbying work at the district level. The NRA doesn't hold marches, and, according to Frank, we shouldn't waste our time either.
Barney's wrong. First, this obscures the fact that lesbians and gay men are a very small minority. U.S. gun ownership runs between 21.6% and 50%. Every one of those people has a very direct interest in gun laws. You can't fairly compare their numbers to the 3-5% of gays and lesbians in the country. While we have an ever-increasing number of supporters who are willing to vote for our equality, their interest is indirect: justice and fairness for their friends and family, and maybe even in general. That is a tribute to them and to generations of lesbians and gay men who took the risks of coming out to try and persuade them.
What Frank assumes is that, like NRA members, our supporters would also have the single-minded dedication we do, in every congressional district in the nation, to put unified and unceasing pressure on members of congress.
There are places in the country where that might happen. But that's the second reason the NRA analogy is wrong. Those people overwhelmingly live in places were we already have the congressional support we need. It is exactly in the places where we need the help that we would have the fewest straight supporters to do what the NRA does.
That is the paradox of being, not just a minority, but an extremely small minority in a democratic nation. No one but us actually experiences the day-to-day effects of discrimination, and because we are all part of the larger public, it is hard to get our unique but intense problem onto the national agenda for a sustained period of time. A national march does that for a day or two, but already the media has moved on to - what are for them - more important issues to the public at large.
When our problems are national in scope (as they are with DADT and DOMA) we have to do things nationally to call attention to the problem. Barney Frank's prescription presupposes support in places where we need it the most and have the hardest time getting it.
It's enough to make reasonable non gun-owners mad enough to go out and join the NRA.
4 Comments for “Barney Frank is Wrong — We’re Not Like the NRA”
posted by Bobby on
Barney is not wrong, I’ve been a member of the NRA for many years and I know why that organization works. We mail hundreds of thousands of letters and postcards to our representatives in congress, so no matter what the media says against us our elected officials hear from us. Because in the end, it doesn’t matter if the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, and every other liberal publication in the world hates you, they don’t vote, we do! They don’t have our numbers, we do! And smart republicans know that it’s more important to please Joe Gun Owner than some liberal asshole in the media. So for once in my life I will agree with Barney.
posted by Scott on
This post is right on. While there are gay and lesbian people everywhere the numbers are not high enough to effect the voting patterns of politicians in either party. In my own Chicago congressional district there is support for ENDA, repealing DOMA and DADT–but we are an urban district with a reasonably high gay & lesbian population where you would expect this support. There aren’t enough gay and lesbians in suburban and rural districts where their voices and their votes are needed to sway the elected officials. The NRA model won’t work until straight people become effective advocates for us.
posted by Jorge on
I’m not sure the analogy holds, either, but… gay rights supporters are progressive to the NRA’s conservatives. Conservatives are a lot better at get out the vote stuff.
So a better question would be can we compare ourselves to the most powerful progressive lobbies, which I would say are the unions. The constituencies of unions are very diverse, but for some reason the union leadership is very focused.
Unions do “waste time” with rallies and marches, and they’re very good at it. So did all the seniors upset at the health care reform bill. They get publicity, they publicly and brazenly write to politicians. And they do letter writing campaigns (which we should do), and they play political hardball (which we absolutely do not do).
posted by Mary Cristos on
I believe Barney Frank is right: the next step is putting the heat to our politicians in 435 congressional districts and 50 states. Obama is not the problem, he has way too much on his plate already. The problem is our United States Congress. That’s where the power is.
In general, politicians care only about votes. And five of the total voting population is not a majority.
I believe the LGBT community needs to build the mother of all gay/straight alliances. And in recognition of where the necessary votes really are, let’s call it a straight/gay alliance.
I believe today about fifty percent of straight Americans would agree that everyone should have equal rights. And it’s getting better every day as more and more old Christian and Mormon bigots die or turn senile, and more and more young people turn 18 and can vote.
That’s why I’d like you to take a look at the new “Equal Rights For All Americans” petition campaign at UniversalFreeChurch.org. It’s an effective mechanism that makes it easy to influence your congressional representatives and contact your friends anywhere in the country to do the same thing. Unless you have a better solution, please join in and let’s make this happen.
Please read the direct mail letter below. Its purpose is to drive people to the website and get them to forward the email to everyone they know that might be supportive of this effort. You can cut and paste the email and send it to everyone you know (especially your straight friends). Or you can download the email as a .DOC file at UniversalFreeChurch.org.
=[]=[]=[]=[]=[]=[]=[]=
Subject header: Equal Rights For All Americans.
Body copy below:
=[]=[]=[]=[]=[]=[]=[]=
It is a shameful disgrace that in America today:
1) Same-sex couples who are legally married under the laws of several states are still denied all the civil rights of other married couples by a federal law.
2) Federal equal opportunity laws protecting all other Americans from employment discrimination do not apply to legally married same-sex couples.
3) Same-sex couples serving our country in the military lose their jobs if they even *admit* they’re legally married to the person they love.
This kind of blatant discrimination is not my America. This is the America of bible-thumping Christian and Mormon politicians who have been elected to federal office by bible-thumping Christian and Mormon voters.
But now it’s time for all decent Americans to join together in a national straight/gay coalition to speak out together against religious bigotry.
The Universal Free Church doesn’t believe in special rights for any group. But we do believe in equal rights for every group, and we hope you do too. That’s why we’re asking you to support the “Equal Rights For All Americans” petition campaign.
With your help we can put an end to religious discrimination that has stolen the Constitutional right of legally married gay Americans to simply live their own private lives in their own private bedrooms without being discriminated against.
Please visit us at http://UniversalFreeChurch.org and download the “Equal Rights For All Americans” petition. (At our homepage, in the right-hand column, click on the “ERFAA” box.)
First, print out and sign the petition yourself. Then get 19 other family and friends to sign it.
Then mail a copy of your completed petition to the district offices of your Representative and Senators. (At our website you can click to get the correct contact information, based on your zip code.) It’s important to snail-mail your completed petition so your politicians actually receive something physical in their hands. Most politicians routinely ignore online petitions and emails.
Then mail us your original petition. (Our address is on the bottom of the petition.) We’ll be hand delivering all petitions received to the Representatives and Senators at their congressional offices in Washington, D. C., on an ongoing basis to keep up the pressure.
Please join with us today and do your small share in demanding equal rights for everyone. All it costs is a little of your time to get 20 signatures, and a dollar or two in postage stamps to mail your completed petition. (Please also forward this email to everyone on your email list and post it on your blog or website.)
The Protestant, Catholic, and Mormon churches have hundreds of billions of tax-free dollars to spend promoting hateful religious bigotry. The Mormons alone spent 20 million of their tax-free dollars campaigning for Proposition 8 in California last year. All we can afford is this little email.
This email could spread like wildfire all across the country through “viral marketing,” or like a chain letter. But only if YOU visit our website and download the petition. As well as forward this email to everyone you can, straight and gay.
If you believe in “Equal Rights For All Americans,” please start doing your small share TODAY to make that possible. With your help, we can bury our politicians in a blizzard of completed petitions at their district offices and in Washington, D. C.
Let’s all join together and show our politicians what the new majority of decent Americans, straight and gay together, really think about equal rights for everyone.
Thank you for caring,
Mary Cristos
UniversalFreeChurch.org